For God so loved the world
This weekend we hear the most beloved verse of the New Testament. John 3:16 is displayed in the end-zone of football games, stuck on car bumpers and billboards across the nation, and is so well known that you barely even need to say more than "John 3:16." What could be better than to hear that God loves the world?
Well, for all of its familiarity and common use as the gospel in a nutshell, this scripture raises some very uncommon questions. What God's love entail? Is he like a kind old dog who loves his master without question? Is God's love a kind of grace that overlooks your faults and accepts you because you are trying to be your authentic self? Something about God's love is that he "gave his only son." That doesn't sound like love. And then if you go beyond to John 3:17-22, we hear all kinds of talk about judgement, condemnation, and evil. Somehow God's love is for a world that has rejected him and rebelled against him. What does love look like then?
You will have to join the community of First Lutheran this weekend to hear what it means that God loves the world, and you, with more than kind fondness.
Pastor Lars
The Physics of Faith
“The Passover of the Jews was at hand [think Passover meal, with the lamb without blemish in Exodus 12:1-20], and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the Temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money-changers at their business. And making a whip of cords [Jesus] drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the Temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, ‘Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.’ … ‘Destroy this Temple [they did not understand Jesus was speaking of his own body], and in three days I will raise it up’” (John 2:14-16, 19; emphasis added).
In the Gospel text for this coming weekend (John 2:13-22), we come to see how the “sacrificial system” of the Old Testament, as a way of relating to God, comes to an end. God is no longer available primarily, let alone exclusively, via the Temple. Rather, as St. John makes clear from the very opening verses of his gospel witness, that in the very person of Jesus we are invited to experience God’s “grace upon grace” (John 1:17) through our faith in him.
Given that St. John’s gospel was written well after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans (70 A.D.), his insistence … and especially reassurance … to the early Christian community, that they will find God’s mercy in Christ outside rather than inside the Temple, makes practical as well as theological sense. So it is for us today.
Many of us too often think of church as a destination. It’s a place we go to receive … well, spiritual things. (For example: What do you think of? God’s Word of the forgiveness of sins? God’s Word of hope? Receiving baptism or communion?). But taking a cue from our Gospel text for this weekend (and every day!) I wonder if we’re only seeing part of the picture of the life of worship as well as faith. Worship is a the heart of the Christian faith, it’s foundational, make no mistake; however it’s also a time and place where God then sends us out into the world to bear the good news of salvation that’s been so graciously given to us in the ultimate sacrifice – once and for all in Christ Jesus, by his cross and resurrection (cf. Romans 6:10; Hebrews 10:10; I Peter 3:8).
C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, c. 1950-56
One way to illustrate this truth is by drawing upon the third book in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia – where the beloved lion, Aslan, tells the children that even after they leave the land of Narnia, they will continue to see him in the needs of others. This is key to what Jesus is teaching us still today, in our text from John 2:13-22: that we come to church, to worship, because in the proclamation of the Gospel and sharing of the sacraments we see God’s forgiveness and grace for us most clearly. But then … we are sent out to look for God and, even more, to partner with God in our various vocations or jobs (cf. Philippians 1:5; Ephesians 3:10) – to bless the people and the world that “God so loves that he even gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16) that we might have “life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Worship and witness, these are the centripetal and centrifugal movements (remember your middle school science class?) of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, what we might call the “physics of faith.”
God’s grace to you this day, and throughout the new week. See you at worship … and … then “Go in peace and serve the Lord.”
j.r. christopherson
Senior Pastor
Leaning Into the Promise of God’s Word
Watanabe, Sadao, Christ Carrying the Cross, 1968.
Each of us confronts the world with all of its possibilities of gain and loss. Risk and anxiety attend our every move. Therefore, the crucial question facing all of us – in every moment – in every time and generation – is the matter of trust. What or who can we finally trust? What is our foundation for hope in the midst of “shootings and rumors of shootings”(such as the recent mass murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida). This is the question of existence. It is this question which gives all of life its religious dimension. In the face of such risk and insecurity we place our trust here and now there … tempted to place our trust in the ways of our own human construction and the world – of materialism, nationalism, weapons build-up, some political party or messiah figure who promises to “save the day.” But then, ashes … ashes … it all falls down.
Join us this weekend in worship, as we hear the story of Abraham and Sarah’s tested journey of faith (Genesis 17:1-7, 15-18), a story that is spirited across the generations to Jesus pointing his disciples and us toward the shadows of a cross (Mark 8:31-38), as the biblical story becomes, once more, our story (Romans 4:23). How or why ought we to trust in the promise of God’s Word, when so many other words fail us? Cross your calendars.
j.r. christopherson
Senior Pastor
Cross, Not Glory
Over the past few weeks people have noticed that our weekly blog post has been delivered by video. Sorry to disappoint our video fans this week. These kinds of changes don’t always transition smoothly.
This week in worship we celebrate the Transfiguration of Our Lord, where before the eyes of a few disciples Jesus changes, becomes dazzling white, and begins conversing with Moses and Elijah. The sight is awe inspiring and fear inducing. And rightly so. Unlike changes in our world that take time, planning and process, the transfiguration change on that mountain was immediate. The kingdom of God overlapping the kingdom of earth. Moses and Elijah step aside and Jesus his kingdom of mercy and grace take over.
Make no mistake, however. The kingdom of God is invading the world, but not with dazzling sights and never ending mountain top experiences. Jesus’ kingdom is established on the cross. It may not be the glory we hope for, but it is the kingdom that Jesus promises us. “Listen to him!”
Pastor Lars Olson